House OKs bill that would block Obama power plant plan

WASHINGTON — Aiming at the heart of President Barack Obama's strategy for fighting climate change, the Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to block the administration's plan to limit carbon pollution from new power plants.

The bill targets Obama's proposal for the Environmental Protection Agency to set the first national limits on heat-trapping carbon pollution from future power plants.

It's part of the GOP's election-year strategy to fight back against what Republicans call a “war on coal” by the Obama administration.

The bill passed 229-183.

Ten Democrats, mostly from coal-producing states or the South, joined Republicans in support of it. Three Republicans opposed the bill.

A similar measure is pending in the Senate but faces a more difficult path.

“The Obama administration clearly wants to use its regulatory agenda to end coal-fired power generation in this country, but that is a pipe dream,” said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, noting that coal provides nearly 40 percent of the nation's electricity.

Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., called the EPA proposal “one of the most extreme regulations of the Obama administration. He said the proposed limits on carbon emissions would “make it impossible to build a new coal-fired power plant in America.”

As a practical matter, no new coal plants are being considered now because of competition from cheap natural gas. But Whitfield and other Republicans argue that could change if natural gas prices keep rising.

In that case, utility companies should be able to “go out and build a coal-powered plant with reasonable regulations,” said Whitfield, chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and power.

The Whitfield-sponsored House bill requires EPA to set carbon emissions standards based on technology that has been in use for at least a year.

Republicans and some coal-state Democrats say the EPA rule is based on carbon-capturing technology that doesn't currently exist.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., denounced the legislation as “a science-denial bill” that would strip the EPA of its ability to block carbon pollution. He and other Democrats called the bill a blatant attempt to thwart the EPA and vilify the administration in an election year.

The White House has threatened to veto, saying the bill would “undermine public health protections of the Clean Air Act and stop U.S. progress in cutting dangerous carbon pollution from power plants.”

Power plants account for about one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has said the proposed rule is based on carbon reduction methods that are “technically feasible.”